Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Tuesday 12/05 A.M. Quickie:Who's YOUR Sportsman of the Year?

Dwyane Wade wins SI Sportsman of the Year: Amazingly, this award continues to be relevant; it's probably the most sports-culturally relevant thing SI does all year (aside from the occasional cover-story scoop).

Anyway, I can't disagree with the choice. Wade emerged from the shadow of LeBron AND Shaq to not only lead the Heat to its first NBA title, but to become perhaps the most respected player of his generation.

Comments Question: Who would you pick as your "Sportsperson of the Year?" Why? And who would round out the Top 5 on your ballot? That's an awesome question that should keep the comments section hopping.

(Personally, I would have given it to Vince Young. I know it's hard to credit something that happened in early January, but VY had the best individual performance in the biggest and best game of the sports year -- and perhaps college football history.)

Quick notes on today's biggest storylines:

Jeff Garcia: 315 yards and 3 TDs! Who saw that coming? Kudos to anyone who started him in their fantasy league, particularly if you're in playoff contention.

Schiano staying at Rutgers: You know what? Good for him. What an awesome decision, and I hope he can turn them into a perennial Big East contender. With Ray Rice returning next year, it's a possibility.

Laurinaitis wins "Heisman for defense": Because a defensive player will never win the Heisman, the Nagurski award is the de facto Heisman for defensive players. And Ohio State LB James Laurinaitis became the first sophomore to win it, beating out rival Michigan CB Leon Hall and Florida S Reggie Nelson (my choice), along with Gaines Adams and Patrick Willis. Hmm: Laurinaitis on the '07 Heisman watch list?

Thankfully, the Florida-Michigan-BCS hysteria appears to be waning after a fierce 24 hours after the announcement. But USA Today released the coaches' ballots, and there's one notable choice: The only Big Ten coach to rank Florida ahead of Michigan was Illinois coach (and ex-Florida coach) Ron Zook. You can't blame him, of course, but you can bet that Michigan will take that out on Illinois next season.

MLB Winter Meetings: "Where's Manny Going?" is the hot storyline from the first day, but the Cardinals quietly locked up their anchor SP Chris Carpenter for 5 more years (at $65 million).

NBA: (1) Big night for my favorite NBA player, Gilbert Arenas, who had 38 points helping the Wiz snap the Mavs' 12-game winning streak. (2) Meanwhile, if you want to see why the Jazz are doing so well, check out the box score of their win over the Bucks. Start with Boozer's 30 and 13. (3) The Magic win again. In Sacto no less at the tail end of a road trip. Amazing. They're for real.

I'm on the road traveling this morning so posts might be light until the afternoon...

122 comments:

Anyway, I think Schiano staying at Rutgers is a great thing for college football because there isn't a great program in the northeast right now.

At times Boston College or Syracuse have been great, but now that BC is in the ACC, they aren't really a northeast player. Syracuse has been down since Donovan McNabb left.

Schiano staying at RU plants the roots of a potential solid program in the northeast.

If Schiano and Rutgers can keep up this level of play over a period of time, and UConn's program progresses like it should (espically with this new facility). People say this is the nicest on campus training football facility in the country, that's sure to bring in a couple of recruits.

Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but if college football in the northeast could even come close to rivaling the intensity of college football in the midwest or south, then I think this country would be a better place. People in the most populated area of the country deserve a place to go Saturday mornings to watch football, hopefully Schiano staying at Rutgers will help push that along.

Woodson wasn't singularly a defensive player. He did play offense and special teams and if I remember correctly, that year had a pretty weak Heisman class. I can check on that, but Woodson ran away with it (I was pretty young at the time, so I could be wrong)

I don't think a lineman or linebacker would ever win Heisman unless he scored like 6-7 touchdowns off Ints or Fumbles (which is pretty unrealistic)

Someone correct me if I am wrong...but I think the reason Charles Woodson won was because he benefited from Peyton Manning, Ryan Leaf, and Randy Moss all stealing votes from each other. I think Woodson won the Heisman with the least amount of votes.

But alas...he won the award. Good for him. Troy Smith will break all sorts of Heisman records on Saturday.

Leaf and Moss weren't really in it. That was the first year of the Peyton Manning Backlash. I remember Archie Manning pushing for his kid...the fact that Peyton couldn't win big names but only put up big stats didn't sit well with voters...Woodson was doing things rarely seen and enough voters gave him credit for it.

I do think it was a deserved Heisman for Woodson.

Impressive win for Laurinaitis as well. Ohio State might be bringing a lot of that individual hardware to Columbus. Don't they have a Thorpe, Lombardi, Outland finalist as well? (to go along with Smith's standings in all the QB or MVP awards)

Schiano staying at Rutgers is a great thing for football in the Northeast. They're going to be perennial contenders in the Big East, which is saying something since the Big East is a. better than most think and b. improving.

I agree with Tony Kornheiser. The Saints should have been Sportsmen of the Year. Even though the story would have been sappy, the team has had a great season and given the Big Easy reason to feel good again.

Wow...I was wrong, my bad. Woodson got a lot of #1 votes. Props to you Gary for finding that.

I don't think OSU is up for any other awards except the defensive player (Lombardi?), linebacker (name?), QB (Davey O'Brien?), MVP (name escapes me), and of course, the Hesiman. Thorpe is for DB's right? They def. don't have any up for that.

I thought they did have one up for thorpe...Smith, their 5th year walkon? Maybe it was just semifinals then.

Schiano should be Sportman of the Year. It's refreshing to see a guy stay at a place that he's building up. CFB is cyclical. PRograms rise and fall. Miami? There's NO guarantee they'd rise again. Florida players -- of that mythical team speed -- don't always stay home. And with USF and even UCF, there are even more options in Florida.

The SI award is an absolute joke. This year's winner is a very talented basketball player who hit an insanely hot streak during the NBA Finals, but who did so alongside Shaq, who tends to make life easier for pretty much anyone. He was part of a US team that flopped during the summer's World Championships, is not widely known outside his own sport, and has several rivals for the title of best player *within* his own sport. Yes, the award covers more than just ability, but I still don't see how Wade has done enough to elevate himself above half a dozen other basketball players with a similar level of talent.

On the other hand, you have Roger Federer, fresh off what is pretty much a historically great season, in which he's won three Grand Slam titles, come within a couple of sets of taking a fourth, racked up a 92-5 win/loss record, carried on his high-profile work as a UNICEF ambassador, and established himself as possibly the world's dominant sportsperson. I know that he's not American, and that tennis is a niche sport in the US (though globally it's one of the biggest), but there seem virtually no grounds on which SI could justify giving this award to Dwayne Wade (or Vince Young, for that matter - university sport? C'mon!) ahead of Federer, without changing its name to 'American Sportsman of the Year'.

chris, SI sportsman basically is American sportsman of the year. Won't see anyone from the world cup winning, for instance (unless he/she was american). But I agree with your assessment that Wade is not the best choice; not that he'll fade from contention of being one of the best all-around NBA players, but I think he had the right circumstances for him last year, and the Heat won't be inthe running for the title on a yearly basis on account of him alone (unlike the Cavs of the future...).

But I don't see how a men's tennis player can make it, given the lowly status of tennis on the american radar. I wouldn't see Young as a bad idea (Why not University Sports? College Football is huge! And he had an Amazing individual performance.)

To me no one athlete really stood out this year. I do not think Wade would of been in my top 5 for sportsmen of the year. For me I think the sportsmen of the year should of been all the Pro, College, High School and other athletes from New Orlenas who had to try and compete over the last year in a half without really having homes. I think SI really missed out this year. My top 3 this year would of been:

I can get behind the Federer thing, even Tiger Woods except he's won a couple times already (I think)

The NBA is the least popular major sport in the US (I don't count hockey) and like Chris mentiones, he's not even decisevly the best in that sport.

His impact outside of his sports is relatively small in that I can't think of anything he does outside of playing for the Heat or Team USA.

Does he build houses for poor people? I don't know.

Does he donate toys to kids at Christmas? Probably, but I don't hear about it.

Shouldn't sportsman of the year have more to do with sportsmanship combined with competition instead of just one or the other.

Look at Tiger Woods (who I would vote for if I had a vote). He dominated his sport and he started the Tiger Woods Learning center which is an amazing facility for kids to go after school and learn and make friendships and most importantly stay off the streets.

Tiger has won me over in the last few years. I used to strongly dislike him and thought he was a jerk, but now he seems human.

Crying at the British Open because of his fathers recent passing.

Talking more candidely than I can ever remember about his fathers legacy and his role in the world not just golf.

Plus, he's the highest paid athlete in the world and in 10 years will be a BILLIONARE.

honestly, i didnt even know who wade was until the playoffs this year...before that, he was just another nba player to me.

If you go onto cnnsi.com, they have their list of sportsmen, and its peppered in with feelgood winners (arthur ashe), underdog winners (us hockey team), and the big champion from the year (tiger, us women soccer team, red sox, etc) So, they appear to try to mix it up for freshness.

The thing that isnt clear about the SI sportman award is how you win it? Sports achievement? Public Service? Luck?

Sounds alot like another voting method that is near and dear to us...maybe we should suggest a playoff system to SI?

As they pointed out on deadspin, shouldn't sportsman of the year have something to do with sportsmanship? Flopping in the Finals is smart, but it's not exactly sporting.

I think Dan is right, Vince Young should have won for that game. I mean, immediately afterwards, my friend turned to me and said, "If USC was the best team going into the game, Vince Young was the best team going out."

But I wouldn't give it to Dwyane Wade either. I'd give it to Zinedine Zidane, just to stick it to the Italians and their crappy diving.

But, seriously, I think Vince Young would have been a good choice. So would Peyton Manning.

What a crappy year for individual sports performances. If Tiger had broken the consecutive wins record, he'd be a no-brainer, but while it's nice he's good again, it's not like he was setting the world on fire.

Actually, Greg Schiano would be a decent choice, too. Too bad he's not actually a player.

I'm not a big basketball guy either, but I do know that D-Wade does a lot of community work in southern Florida. I don't have a list of what he has done or anything, but I've heard more than one sportscaster or analyst speak to his charity work and community service.

I have thought that Sportsmen of the Year the last 8 years was a joke. If no one stood out they just went to the old stand bys Lance and Tiger. I am surprised that they didn't give it to Lance since he finished the NYC Marathon in under 3 hours and has probably banged about 500 women this year with his tag team partner Bongo McCounagahy.

You also have to remember that this is the same publication that named Billie Jean King and John Wooden co-Sportspeople of the Year in 1972 which was the year Mark Spitz won 7 golds and set 7 world records that alone should tell you about that award.

If Federer was American he would have won the award easily. But yeah, SI doesn't give that award to people from other countries too often. Last one was what, Johann Olav Koss? And I think he was one of the only non North Americans to get it.

rev...I realize that they aren't selling copies each issue, but they use subscription numbers to sell ads and establish rates.

The readership is what matters, not individual issues sales.

If they put a random tennis, soccer, or olympic athlete on the cover, it doesn't have flip through appeal. People won't bother to pick up the magazine and won't see the ads.

Ad agencies know this, they aren't stupid, they want Dwayne Wade on there so they can advertise their new sneakers on the inside cover.

I know a little about advertising and I know that despite not selling extra copies, the cover picture does affect how much money you can get for ads.

Think about Time magazine making George W. Bush man of the year (not this year I know)

Time realizes that his supporters will read it and see the ads, his haters will be so disgusted they will open it up so they can fuel their hatred and remind themselves why they hate him.

I'm a Red Sox fan. If A-Rod is on the cover, I'll read it to see what is going on, like that article earlier this year where he said he's so good looking and whatnot. I hate him so much, I want to know all about him so I have ammo for hating him (does that make sense?)

I'm telling you...the Saints would have sold more copies than D-Wade. Don't get me wrong...Wade's a very, very good player...but he's not the best player of his draft class (James), he's not the best player on his team (O'Neal), he's not the best player in his state (Howard), and he's not the face of the game (Bryant?).

As Dan hammered down our throats all of last season: We are all Saints fans. Normally, I think Shanoff's hyperbole is unjustified and really, really stupid, but he hit the nail on the head. People would be more willing to buy that SI than one with Wade on the cover.

I’m going to throw in some regional bias here – I’m a Wisconsin (Madison) guy but I have many friends who went to Marquette and met/hungoutwit/etc. Mr. Wade. By all accounts, he’s a tremendous individual. I am positive the story on Wade will highlight all the good things he does off the court. The biggest, of course, is that he’s middle-aged-white-man friendly. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be one of those someday too. But MAWM isn’t interested in the NBA anymore not because of the quality of the sport, but the (perceived) character of the players. MJ was non-threatening to MAWM. Kobe tried to pull that off, then Colorado happened. KG is too intense. TD has no discernable personality. LBJ is still a little too “hood.” Wade is perfect, right down to his on-court demeanor and religious beliefs off the court. He also was the best player on a championship team (that Americans tuned in to watch – the ratings this year were much better than the World Series, and better than in prior NBA Finals years).

To give the award to someone like Federer is fine. By all accounts, he’s the best tennis player of all-time. But, really, no one gives a crap. It’s not culturally relevant. And it isn’t because he isn’t an American. He just doesn’t have the personality to transcend the sport (Agassi, anyone?) I think you’d need that for a sport like tennis.

The Saints were the obvious choice for SI. That’s exactly the Rick-Reilly type choice they normally make. I’m happily surprised they didn’t do it – probably because the Saints haven’t won anything. They’ll be the Sportsmen next year, though, if they can somehow make it out of the NFC and into the Superbowl…

I have to ask – can we somehow start a mail writing campaign to SI for Peter King’s head? The man is looney. Who else has been watching his weekly updates for MVP? This man has a vote, and he’s apparently going to use it for Drew Brees, all the while acknowledging that LDT is having the best season a running back may have ever had!!! Uhh, Peter, Mr. Brees is doing pretty well because he has two all-pro caliber RBs that teams focus on!!!

(I think it's cool that I get my SI on Wednesdays now. When I was a kid, I was lucky if it came by Friday or Saturday, by which the news was pretty old, even back by 80s standards.)

Have the Panthers played themselves out of a playoff spot yet? Egads on that interception at the end. I could tell ESPN kept showing it, trying to see if Shepard's second foot hit just before his butt did, the foot was in while the rear was out of bounds, so it was a matter of which hit first. That was the first time I kinda wished for Paul Maguire in the booth. (but not for long)

Here's a question some might be able to comment on....are there disproportionately more schools in the northeast? I mention this thinking, are more Tennesseans, as an example, alumni of UT, as a percentage of the overall total, compared to northeast states? My point being, is it less likely for the State U.'s football team to naturally attract a large percentage of the population because the population went to a larger spectrum of schools? This is all theoretical, but if 30% of Michigan people have ties to Ann Arbor, football would play bigger there than in Massachusetts, if only 5% of residents have ties to Amherst. Does this make sense? A particular school doesn't rally the population as well in the northeast. I don't know if this argument is baloney, so if anyone has any thoughts....

Jason - Do you watch the NBA? Wade is one of the top 3 players in the League. The other two are Kobe and Lebron. I love Howard, but this isn't a center's game anymore. You may have noticed Stern changed some key rules a couple of years ago. Shaq is waaaay past his prime, and he's said as much. Bron is fun, and probably number 1, but like I said in my earlier post - he's too 'hood' right now. And he doesn't have the ring. Kobe? He is DEFINITELY NOT the face of the game. The reason you're seeing Wade on the cover of SI? He's the face of the NBA.

I like the NBA just fine and D-Wade's a damn good player but being in the top 3 in the NBA right now doesn't really mean jack. Long gone are the days of MJ, Magic, and Bird.

I'm also a college fan and watched Wade lead Marquette to the final four, realizing immediately he'd be a star in the NBA.

Those are all fair points Eric. I guess best player on his team for Shaq was unfair...I meant more that he was the face of the Miami Heat, even now as Wade is cementing himself as a superstar. I was just trying to prod people with Howard and Kobe. ;)

My point, moreso, is that Wade shouldn't be Sportsman of the Year. I gave my answer as to who earlier.

"Bongo McConaughy"...I will now wipe the morning Dr. Pepper from my screen.

Still trying to figure out why Wade getting the award for something earned in June is any more relevant than Vince Young getting snubbed for a January tour de force, too. Must be a Florida thing, right Dan? (wink)

As for Schiano, it might just be wishful methinking on my part, but methinks he may be holding out for the sooner rather than later retirement of JoePa. With no offense intended to Bradley's years of dedication (not to mention heading a defensive unit that has kept Penn State barely above water at times the last few years), please come back to Happy Valley, Greg.

Laurinaitis - son of the Animal (of the Road Warriors) - he has the personality and physical tools to be the next Butkus

As for my top five SOY...

1. Saints - It's irrelevant that they haven't "won" anything. They've given hope to a region that had lost all of theirs. Nothing beats that.

2. Federer - Greatest. Season. Ever.

3. Tiger - Suddenly everyone realized he's human because he lost his dad, which makes his current run of dominence even more impressive.

4. Wade - Face of the NBA champs, and at least appears to be a nice guy.

5. Jim Leyland - He's be #2 if the Tigers had won the series. Come on, the TIGERS were in the World Series. They've been in the same category as the Royals for the past 15 years, and suddenly they're in the series?

He probably wouldnt be in the mix if he wasn't on the Irish only because that would mean Weiss would not have molded him into the fine speciman he is...again his numbers are BETTER than Smith's. Smith probably deserves the Heismann because he played out of his mind this year but to say Quinn doesn't deserve some recognition is ridiculous.

Hands down, no ifs ands or buts. Wade is a great player and a great guy, and deserves all the accolades. However, A team that nobody could tell you the location of goes out and beats Michigan State, UNC, UConn to get to the Final Four.

Meh..Rush Limbaugh is expected to say such things. It's the conservative thing to do. Of course, with the strides the Reps have made in gaining African-American voters...way to bash the idea of a black president... lol

First off, for those of you wondering about the criteria for "Sportsman of the Year", being American is about the only one (2 years ago, the Red Sox won it, so off the field stuff is pretty much out).

If the voting came out about 2 weeks later, I'd say give it to the Tulane football coach, Chris Scelfo. He guided his team through a tough time, and got the mega-shaft. Louisiana Tech would be fools not to grab him just for his recruiting potential in that area, and the motivational figure he's become. Giving him the award would have been a nice gesture to say some people appreciate what he did.

Third, what's wrong with making Drew Brees MVP? He's got a shot at breaking Marino's record for yards in a season, and he's made Mr. Almost-Irrelevent Marques Colston into the consensus RoTY. Plus, as he said, thats his ballot NOW, not the one he's sending in.

We know that women can compete for this award making it SPORTSPERSON of the year. I Barbaro can compete I guess it's SPORTSORGANISM of the year. Does it expand past living beings? Can there be a SPORTSENTITY of the year award. Maybe the new NBA basketball should get a look.

This might be kind of out there but how about that guy who ran 50 freaking marathons in 50 days. I think his name is Dean something. The human body should not be able to pull something like that off, simply amazing.

No other sportsperson has had the threat of being turned into a commercial product like Barbaro.

Glue, or dog food. Either way, anyone else gets hurt and the doctors will keep them alive even if they're paraplegic and comatose. Barbaro is right now triumphing over the longest odds and will soon be siring new champions, although he never will compete again.

I forgot about Landis. I was so freaking pumped when he made the comeback. I hope it turns out he was framed. Then we can give him this award retroactively. (I doubt it though.)

Its interesting to read the comments posted on SI.com where people react to Wade's selection. Its about 80-90% against, proving once more why NBA basketball professional soccer, and NFL kickers are just not popular in the US: We hate floppers.

I won't bog this place down any further with schooling you politically, but anytime you want the facts as to how many strides the GOP has made in terms of gaining minority votes in the last few years -- be it Hispanic, black or Jewish -- please feel free to contact me.

You might want to check your facts. See the results of the last election.

School me politically? Ugh. No need. I'm pretty out of politics. But as the average Joe, I just told you what the perception is of conservatives. I hear far more from teh Limbaughs and Coulters and Hannitys than from any rational GOPer. (Same goes for democrats..though..well, one hardly hears anything from them, period)

Yeh he's been sacked 2x as much because he has a very limited supporting cast - Quinn at OSU would be utterly and completely unstoppable. He would have dominated Smith's numbers this year. Smith should win but Quinn has had an unbelievable season.

What does that have to do with it. The offensive line is weak, the top WR wasn't playing two years ago for some reason and is a baseball player, the running game is weak at best and they have no defense. Quinn basically willed the team to 10 wins. The coach helped sure, and the recruiting will be good for years to come but that doesn't change the fact that he doesn't have too many strong players around him, at least not like smith does at OSU.

I think that the NBA MVP is the most meaningful of the 3 MVPs (a la the Sports Guy).

In football, there are 10 other guys out there and even if you are the QB you only get the ball for less than half of the game (defense, special teams) and about half of that time you are handing the ball off and someone else is doing the work.

In Baseball, there are 8 other guys in the field with you for half the game and it isn't even your decision if you get the ball, unless you are a pitcher in which case you only pitch every 5 days or out of the bullpen 7 out of 10 games tops for about an inning, and the other half of the game you are sitting down for 8/9 of the time.

But in basketball there are 5 guys who go both ways. You can choose to use one guy as a key defender and key scorer (Kobe, Jordan).

I think that therefore the Sportsman is more likely to be a basketball player or a guy who plays is not on a team at all (tennis, golf).

I also object to the term SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR for two reasons.

1. If there have been teams and women who have won, how is it still SportsMAN?

2. Tiger Woods (and I'm assuming other golfers) have won and by the deffinition of a sport (direct competition (read: defense), physical ability) Golf isn't a sport. It is a competition. However this doesn't mean that golfers are not athletes. Maybe it should be ATHLETE OF THE YEAR. This would also include women. But not include coaches. How many coaches have won?

As far as TMNT goes my favorite was Raphael because he was a smart ass. Leonardo was a pussy even with 2 swords. Michaelangelo was overrated because of his surfer voice. Donatello gets mad props from me because he was great in the TMNT arcade game (the Bo staff rocked).

1987 "Athletes Who Care": Bob Bourne Hockey Helped handicapped children's school Judi Brown King Track and field Helped abused children Kip Keino Track and field Cared for orphaned children Dale Murphy Baseball Charity spokesman Chip Rives College football Helped needy children Patty Sheehan Golf Helped abused girls Rory Sparrow Professional basketball Helped school children Reggie Williams Professional football Helped high school students

Sportsman is just a term to mean "Athlete with strong character" of the year...worrying about the 'man' aspect is just arguing semantics and is silly.

Raphael was a winy little bitch with crap weapons. Leonardo took care of business with Don. Michalangeo was constantly screwing things up but was funny. Throw some throwing stars or any of Don's inventions with his bow staff and he kicked some serious ass...

Did we even address the issue of Poo-Holes saying he didn't mean to discredit Howard and that it was lost in translation when from the statement it was obvious that that wasn't the case unless "I don't think you should win the MVP if you don't make the playoffs" and "I like Ryan Howard" somehow are pronounced the same in spanish.

Don't get me started on the fact that the Cards won 83 games and the Phils won 85. So basically he was saying he should be rewarded for his team playing in a bad division.

I could go for hours on the merits of NBA players (if only because I watch between 6 and 8 games a week).

Lebron is clearly the most talented. He’s on another level. Kobe can play, but everyone hates him. That counts for something in a team sport. Wade goes at it at both ends. The rule changes favor him, to be sure, but you play according to the rules, and he dominates. Currently, he’s putting up 27/5/8 with 45%/80%. His efficiency is 25.25.

KG’s awesome. Just awesome. 21/12/3 with 51%/81%. His efficiency is 28.44. Just a monster. But why can’t he elevate his teammates? Is he too intense? Someone mentioned the SG earlier – Simmons pointed out recently that KG needs to save something for later and allow teammates to be loose before games. I’ll accept someone saying they’d take him over Wade, but it isn’t an obvious choice.

But who let anyone discuss AI (past his prime), Shaq (ditto), Howard (not close – rules don’t favor his style of play anymore and he has no fire), CP (very talented, too soon to anoint him), Dirk (close, but no D), Arenas (just plain crazy), and Melo (hit the glass!) in this conversation?

I think Nash was discussed as well. Are you kidding? Seriously? Talk about media-influenced opinion!!!

Maybe no one takes the NFL steroid policy seriously because they suspend players for taking asthma medication. Anyone else read about the Saints DE suspended the rest of the regular season because there is a steroid in the medication he uses to breath...again he needs this medicine to get oxygen into his body and he is suspended for using it. Chalk up another one for the NFL - the worst run league in the world.

Glad Schiano's staying. The talk about needing a bigger stadium however is a bit premature. Two sellouts does not mean they need to build an 80,000 seat stadium, they already have one of them at the Meadowlands. Just move the big games if needed.

Although putting games in the Meadowlands would add 30,000 more seats....and it would also pull in more people from NYC...

Wouldn't it take some of the college atmosphere out of it? That's what all the Northeast schools are missing....large awesome on-campus facilities. I mean, is the Carrier Dome still the best 1-A spot in the Northeast? (I guess aside from Happy Valley, but the Big 10 pulls them toward the center of the country.)

this happens EVERY year with ND. They get hyped up beyond belief in the preseason then suffer 3 losses. Then at the end of the year the excuses pop up. "oh they don't have depth" or "they're a year away" or "its willinghams fault", etc.

Except when we make the excuse this year its legitimate - Weiss is just starting to install his system and recruits (of which this years class is currently ranked number 1). Once he gets rolling ND is going to be up with the OSU/USC/Oklahoma/Floridas of the college football landscape again. He is the first coach to have pretty consistent success in a while. Willingham is not a good coach - great human being (I have met him) - but not a good coach or recruiter and it is showing in terms of talent that ND has right now.

It is utterly absurd that Steve Nash won any MVPs. He is not, nor was he ever, one of the league’s best players. The man has excellent numbers, but can’t guard any of us. 20/2/11 on 51%/90% is tremendous (this year’s stats). But Wade is playing the same position, with 27/5/8 AND playing D. Does Nash make the players around him better? I don’t know. Honestly. He makes their stats better, to be sure, but they aren’t exactly inspired on the defensive end, which is what matters come playoff time. A Nash-led team will never win the NBA title, even with top-20 players like the Matrix and Amare. He hurts that team just as much as he helps them. Swap Wade for Nash and Phoenix wins the title this year, hands down. I mean, can you even think of any team in NBA history that had 3 of the top 15 players in the game and DIDN’T make the finals? I can’t. Well, two years ago, that was Nash’s Suns. Perhaps they didn’t have 3 of the top 15 after all???

Nash won the damn award twice because he’s white and the “underdog.” That’s it. It’s laughable Bron and Shaq don’t have awards for the last two years. Just laughable.

Scar - MAWM (Middle Age White Men) constantly bitch to me about no one playing D in the NBA. Sportswriters do this all the time, too. Except the truth of it is, almost all players play very good defense (open shots tend to come after the defense rotates once or twice). There are very few bad defenders in the league. That's mostly due to the fact the NBA has the best athletes in the world. Nash cannot play defense. He's a terrible off-ball defender and an ever worse on-ball defender. It must drive Marion nuts (though his offensive stats are, admittedly, aided by Nash's dishes).

When I see a player that completely ignores the most important part of the game, yeah, it's a deal-breaker for me. He's terrible. You can't win a championship with him. You just can't. The MVP can't be a guy you can't win a championship with unless, of course, you're basing it on revenue (of which, Mr. Nash generates).

But the end of this poorly written rant is that these MAWMs piss and moan about bad defense but they fawn over Nash - because he's little and white. Blows my mind. Did the Suns make the finals last year? Yep. Should they have gotten past the Lakers? Nope. Luck had something to do with it. Don't discount that. But it is rare that the NBA Champ gets to hoist the title merely on luck - too many rounds... Too many games... Go Wade!

1. Federer (totally dominated his sport for the last three years -- and men's tennis was extraordinarily competitive until he hit his stride)2. Shaun White/Hannah Teeter (because, dude, it's a Winter Olympics year, and the gold-medal-winning snowboarders were the highlight of team USA)3. Tiger4. Vince Young (as much as I hated writing that)5. Saints

Chris....yeah, Federer is the most dominant tennis player in the world today and a genuine standup guy.

But the problem is, 99.9% of the sports loving public could give two shits about tennis anymore. Outside of the four majors tournaments each year, professional tennis lumbers along in relative anonymity.

"The only Big Ten coach to rank Florida ahead of Michigan was Illinois coach (and ex-Florida coach) Ron Zook. You can't blame him, of course, but you can bet that Michigan will take that out on Illinois next season."-with the current state of Illinois football, how will we be able to tell?

Schiano may be a savvier businessman than you'd think. I mean, wouldn't that part of the country greet a successful college football team with open arms? And, Rutgers, as far as I know, lacks a big sports team, meaning they can focus their athletic money on football if it becomes a big thing. If he pulls out two more seasons like this, he'll get anything he wants. Popularity == $$$.

Donatello was the best because he built all of their machines, doofuses.

Fun, meaningless sports-equivalency game:

Leonardo=Peyton Manninggolden boy; has/is the best weapon on the field; at various times seems overrated and underrated

Donatello=Doug Flutietotal overachiever given what he had (a freakin' stick?! five foot-what?!); well-versed in the ways of his sport (drop-kick extra point); kind of a geek but in all the right ways

Raphael=TO (almost chose Bill Romanowski)always pissed off, often for no reason, yet no one on the team ever tells him to just STFU; unfortunately, he is just good enough to get away with it

Michaelangelo=Jim McMahon in "Super Bowl Shuffle"his behavior and speech are already super-dated; he also smacks of some middle-aged white guy's attempt to profit from a mishmash of things that are supposed to be "cool"

Alabama must be offering Rodriguez some serious jack if he is considering leaving WVU. Even after his blowup over the weekend that he was not going anywhere this is probably not a big surprise. Alabama may have more history than WVU but the Mountaineers would be a top 10 team again next year because everyone is coming back. Alabama will need about 5 years to be a top 10 team and we all know that if there is something that the boosters, trustees and everyone else in charge in Alabama do not have is patience. Good luck Rich hope you are happy with the money you are going to make.

ok, I'm about a day late, but Nash wasn't a bad choice for MVP. I know the media fawns over defense, but that doesn't actually work in the NBA. Kobe scored 81 basically going 1 on 5, so I don't think there's any sense that defense trumps offense the way it can in other sports. Point guards haven't been recognized enough in the NBA. And Nash definitely creates more on O than he gives up on D.

Spurs? Duncan gave them reliable offense in crunch time.

What about Detroit? They had great shooters. They transitioned off of D, but still had to sink those shots.

What about Miami? Shaq and Wade were unstoppable on offense.

The idea that Wade's "defense" won the title is rather silly. We know 7 foot Dirk can shoot over the entire Heat team easily (Shaq isn't athletic enough to catch him on the perimeter). Once they got away with fouling Dirk on the perimeter, Dallas lost their offense. If you think Cuban's antics didn't have any negative influence on those refs, you're crazy.

And here's the thing: everyone looks like they have good defense when the calls are going their way.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.